New Rome
by dragonrider goku
Summary: It has been thousands of years since a mysterious entity calling itself the United Empire of New Rome first saved pony kind from sure destruction. Now, a very similar group threatens everyone, and nobody knows what to do. Will New Rome save the day once more? Or will this visitor spell destruction for the land of Equestria? Thank you to The Dark Rabbit, read his stories in stone
1. Invasion

"We are the United Empire of New Rome. We have saved your planet from destruction this day, but do not try and thank us. You can search, but you will never find us. We are the protectors, the guardians, and the hidden. Should you really need us, we will return. Should we fall, you will perish. Hope you never see us again for if you do, it will be on the tide of battle against a power that would destroy you all. We are New Rome, and we will keep our children safe."

This was the message that had been broadcast across Equestria on the day, tens of thousands of years ago. Back on the day that Celestia's parents were killed by the beast that had come from the stars. Celestia remembered the fear she had when the beast appeared and devoured her father. Her mother had tried to fight it, but her attacks were no use against the black shadowy creature that had fell from the sky in the middle of the night. Soon, the sun queen had been ripped to shreds by the claws of the monstrosity as it raged across the countryside. It wiped out almost everything on the planet and all Celestia could do was watch while she hid with her still very young sister.

The beast had ripped through walls like paper and had skin stronger than diamonds. Nothing could stop it until, in a blinding flash of light and fire, a massive fireball fell from above and onto the beast. There were three giant metal things floating high up above the planet. They were dropping giant blobs of burning hot energy onto the monster. The monster was quickly reduced it to ash before the heroes in the sky sent their message to the world. They then left before anything could be done.

Celestia remembered that event now, as she stared up at the similar object blotting out her sun. She remembered the protectors who had saved them all from sure destruction back when Luna was still just an infant. These were no saviors, these were the opposite. This thing had also rained something down onto the planet. Metal pods that contained foul creatures that were even now tearing through the Everfree forest. These creatures carried weapons that spit fire and wore armor shining in dark silver that covered their entire bipedal body.

Celestia had seen them burn a path through the forest. They always stayed on a constant path towards one place that worried her so. They were all heading straight for the ruins of the old castle that stood within the heart of the forest. There was only one thing there that Celestia believed could be of interest to them, the mystical book of the gods. There were six in total; all were spread around the land, hidden by Celestia herself. One was inside the castle, deep within the Everfree forest. Now there were creatures from another world heading straight for the book.

The princess of the sun was about to take off and stop the beings from finding the book when her sister came into the room and placed a hoof on the sun goddess's shoulder. Luna then spoke to her sister.

"We knoweth what thou must be thinking. We remember the guardians as well sister, despite our youthful age at the time. Thou must obtain that book before it is found by those creatures that came from the sky. We shall join thee and distract the invaders so that thou can take the book from its prison. We hopeth these are not the same ones who saved us millennia ago."

"Thank you sister, I need the help. If these beings are anything like the ones who swore to protect, may the stars know I need it. Let us hurry; we must get there as soon as possible."

Luna and Celestia then spread their powerful wings and lifted themselves into the sky as the day wore on. They moved with tremendous speed towards the wild forest that contained their goal. If they could not succeed in this retrieval mission, the entire planet was already lost.

Twilight had seen the explosions as the metal pods crashed violently into Equestria's surface. She saw the flames engulfing huge portions of the Everfree forest as it was burned by whatever had landed. She also noticed the large vessel in the sky that covered part of her mentor's sun. Once she made note of all this destruction, she had immediately sent word to the princess and gathered the five of her friends in the library. The princess never responded to the message with details, but instead sent back the letter, now slightly burnt around the corners, with two new, hastily scribbled words; I know.

The six friends gathered together and listened as Twilight told them the little information she had. She explained that the object in the sky had dropped something down and that the forest was now burning. She then drew up the plan of action.

"Alright every pony," Twilight started "we need to help princess Celestia stop this fire before it reaches any of the towns at the forest's edge. From the looks of it, Celestia is currently in the forest combating the fire. I'm not sure what fell from the sky, but we need to be prepared to find it. Chances are it started this fire. I need Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to bring the rain clouds over the forest to keep the fire from spreading. Rarity and I will use our magic to snuff out the fires on a large scale. Finally, Pinkie Pie and Applejack will take water from the river to assist in putting out any fires missed by the others. Are there any questions?"

"Nope"

"Okie dokie lokie"

"I gotcha Twi"

"I just hope the smoke doesn't mess up my mane"

"Um, I think I can do that"

"Good, now we better move, we don't want that fire getting any closer to Ponyville."

With the plan being put in action, the six friends all headed towards the forest to do their job. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew off to gather the clouds floating above Ponyville. Luckily there had been a thunderstorm planned for the next few days, so the weather company had plenty of rain clouds to use. Applejack and Pinkie took some buckets from Pinkie's secret stash and took water from the stream over by Fluttershy's cottage. Rarity and Twilight went straight for the forest and set up a magical barrier to stomp out the fire without doing any further damage to the trees.

The group all met under a barrier Twilight set up to protect them from heat and moved forward along the river going into the forest. With clouds raining, buckets splashing, and magic stomping, the group slowly pushed the fire away from Ponyville. All went smoothly until they reached a path burned into the forest by the flames. None of them had ever seen anything like this before, it was as if fire had completely destroyed the trees and shrubbery in a straight path heading further into the forest. The worst part was the creature that could be seen at the end of the path, burning its way further into the forest.

The creature was looking away from them and slowly walked forward on two legs, continuously lengthening the path it created through the trees by incinerating them instantly. It had a cylindrical arm that spewed out blue flames toward the trees whose ashes it stepped through soon after. The six elements watched with awe as it moved through red ashes without showing any pain. Its dark grey plating shone with a grim brilliance in the light from the fires of the forest.

Pinkie Pie was the first pony to escape the trance the creature unknowingly had on the ponies. She ran as close to the being as she could before the heat caused her to stop. Then she shouted at the creature.

"Hey there, what are you doing, that fire's dangerous. You might hurt some pony."

When those words left the pink mare's mouth, the creature stopped moving and ended the constant flow of flames from its arm. It then slowly turned to face the pink pony that was moving forward as the ashes cooled. Once its face was shown to the six elements, they all gasped. Its eyes seemed to be dark holes with a faint red glow coming from their depths. There were markings burned into the metal that covered the face. The mouth was sealed, but a deep growl could be heard from within.

"Hostium lingua loqueris, you speak in the enemy's tongue yet you are not of the empire. Come no closer creature, and if they value their lives, your companions will stay where they are as well. Who are you fools and why have you interrupted my mission" The creature said in a raspy, guttural voice.

"Um, I'm Pinkie Pie and those are my friends. We were putting out the fires you started. What exactly are you anyway?"

"I am a warrior of the Sideran army. You will leave now the way you came or I will be forced to destroy you once and for all."

"But we need to put out the fires before the whole forest burns down. No way are we going to turn around and leave until after the fires have been put out."

"So be it. You choose this path for yourself as well as your friends. If you do not wish to leave these ashes, then you will become one with them."

Once that was said, the Sideran soldier raised his arm towards the ponies and charged up a burst of flames to disintegrate the small pink ball of energy that stood before him. A bright red glow emanated from within the device while a meter began to grow longer on the side of the soldier's arm. As the glow grew brighter, the meter grew until after just a few seconds, the glow was blue and the meter was full. This was when a massive stream of liquid flame burned its way through the air straight towards the wide-eyed Pinkie Pie who could only watch as her life flashed before her eyes in the seconds before she became engulfed in a blast of light.

As the flames settled, the remaining ponies all gasped at the empty pocket of air and heat where their friend once stood. Twilight immediately grabbed her friends in a telekinetic wave and pulled the five of them straight through the burning trees and ashes while a quick protection spell kept them from catching fire. The group ran until they could not breathe through the smoke and ash, and then they ran even more. By the time they stopped running, they had reached a section of forest that appeared to not have been touched by the fire. The five spent a few moments catching their breath before taking in what was before them. They had reached the once great castle that now stood in ruins, the place where they had found the Elements of Harmony. They were at the castle of Nightmare Moon.

After moving to the entrance of the castle, the five huddled together as they wept for the loss of their hyperactive pink friend. They had never expected to lose any pony on this trip, much less Pinkie Pie. They were prepared to meet with the creatures of the forest; they were prepared to fight fires; they were even prepared to find some bomb sites. They had never expected to run into a foreign being from who knows where that wanted to burn down their forest. Now their friend was gone, all because of some Sideran fire freak who had attacked the poor mare for asking him to stop burning the forest down.

It took the ponies a few minutes to move past their friend and onto the matter at hand. They were currently in the middle of a forest where who knows what lurked. The only way out was past lots of fire as well as a crazy monster that was likely after them now. To top it off, the amount of fire was too much for that single being to create. Which meant there were most likely others in the forest as well. The fires were coming closer, which meant that the others were probably heading towards the castle as well. If that was the case, then they had better escape before more Sideran freaks appeared.

The ponies huddled together to decide what to do.

"W-we should k-keep moving. W-w-who knows h-how many more of t-those things are out there." Twilight explained as tears ran from her eyes.

"B-but what if we run into more of them Sideran fellows?" Applejack asked, her eyes filled with fear at the idea.

"Then we gotta take them out. No creature kills one of my friends and gets away with it. I'll make sure they all pay for attacking P-pinkie." Rainbow exclaimed loudly as she flew up and kicked at invisible enemies.

Fluttershy was curled up in a ball crying at the loss of her dear friend while Rarity looked as if her mind had turned off. All five ponies remained in their depressed state for some time before a rustling in the bushes caught their attention. Immediately as they heard it, all five sprung up and moved closer to the stone walls behind them. They all watched with horror in their eyes as the bushes rustled before them, the overgrown plant shaking almost as much as Fluttershy. They feared the worse as a large figure moved out from beneath the shadows. Once the shadowy form stepped into the light, however, all the ponies gasped.

Standing before them was none other than Princess Luna, goddess of the night. She seemed just as shocked to find them as they were to find her. She then stepped to the side as the body of her larger sister removed itself from the shrubbery.

"Twilight, elements, what are you all doing here?" The sun goddess asked as she caught sight of the group. "And where is Pinkie Pie?"

All of the elements looked down as their friend was mentioned. Twilight shuffled her hooves for a moment before answering her bewildered mentor and princess.

"W-we were t-t-trying to help put out the f-fires. Then we ran into this, monster that walked on its hind legs and shot fire from its fore hoof. I-it, it burned Pinkie and turned her to ash. There was n-nothing we could do to s-stop it. We ran for our lives and ended up here."

"Oh my, this is quite troublesome. It would appear that my suspicions were correct. Did you, by any chance, learn what this monster was called?"

This time Rainbow Dash spoke up, "It called itself a Sideran soldier and told us to get out of its way. When we refused, it blasted Pinkie and k-killed her."

"Then it may not be quite as I feared, but this is still very bad. Without all six elements of harmony, we cannot defend against this threat as we would normally. I didn't want to have to do this, but it appears we may need to gather the dark books."

"Dark books," Twilight asked, "what are those?"

"I never wanted to have anything to do with them. They were the books Luna used to become Nightmare Moon. They have great power, but they corrupt the mind of their user. When all six are gathered, they can do terrible things. For this reason, I hid them across Equestria after I sent Nightmare Moon to the moon. They were supposed to never be found so they would never cause the pure destruction that they did by corrupting my sister."

"Sister, couldst thou stop speaking as if we were not here. We are ashamed of our actions and would like to forget what we did with those cursed books. However, we agree that they are likely our only chance to defeat these new monsters who threaten our kingdom."

"Celestia," Twilight asked, "If we need to find these books, then why are we still here? Shouldn't we leave before those things return?"

"Yes Twilight, we should leave. There is, however, a reason we came to this castle. One of the six books is held within these ancient walls. We must take it before these Siderans can get ahold of its power."

At that time, the trees around the castle suddenly burst into flames. They lasted a few seconds before they were turned to ash. From beyond the trees, at least twenty Sideran soldiers surrounded the clearing that held the ruined castle. All seven ponies watched in horror as the soldiers walked ever closer with their arm cannons glowing with a bright inner light.

Celestia quickly turned and faced off against the horde of enemies that threatened to end the lives of every pony in the area. She lowered her head and charged her horn with a bright burst of magic before she shouted at Luna and the elements.

"I need you to go into the castle and get the book back to Canterlot. Luna, you know where I hid it, in the hidden testing chambers. Once you have it, teleport straight to the Canterlot throne room. I will hold them off as long as I can and meet you there, now go!"

Once her orders had been heard, the sun goddess fired a blast of pure magic into the nearest Sideran soldier. As the beam collided with the soldier's armor, it caused a great explosion of light that knocked the Sideran onto the ground, unconscious. Luna and the elements galloped as fast as they could towards the room where the elements of harmony had been held. Flashes of light could be seen from the windows as well as columns of flame bursting up into the air. Once the group arrived at the element stand, Luna removed the artifact from the floor and pulled a lever fixated in a hole beneath the stone sculpture. Once the lever was pulled, a hole opened up in the floor with a rumble and revealed a flight of stairs.

The six ponies rushed down the stairs as the noises of the battle outside ceased. At the bottom was a door with the same type of lock as was on the elements storage safe in Canterlot Castle. Inside was a large room that held multiple large cages along the sides to hold who knows what kinds of creatures. At the end of the room was a pedestal with an old red book on top. Luna quickly grabbed this book and rejoined the other five in the middle of the room. It was at this time that heavy footsteps could be heard from the stairway the six had come down from. The light of the flamethrower showing the dark form of a Sideran soldier as more joined him. Luna charged her horn and managed to teleport the ponies away just as the bright blue waves of death flooded in.

They appeared in the Canterlot throne room where Luna immediately fell to her knees in exhaustion. They all looked around for signs of Celestia, but found nothing but the empty room with light coming through the windows from the burning forest below the mountain.

A/N: Wow, I have finally returned from my long absence. I am incredibly sorry for being gone so long, I have no excuses. I could blame school or family or something like that, but honestly there is no excuse. Have fun with this new story, this has been planned for quite some time, and now it's finally here. Next chapter is written and will be up soon. ~Dragonrider Goku~


	2. Empires

The room was dark, the only sound was a slight hum of electricity being used to power who knows what. Her head throbbed as she could feel power being drained from her. Her hooves were stiff and sore as metal bracers kept them in place on the floor. Her body was bound with a heavy metal chain that kept her from moving much. Then there was the worst fact of all, she had no memory. She knew there was something she should remember, but she had no idea what it was. If only it wasn't so dark and she could see her beautiful white coat. Wait, white coat, how did she know what she looked like? This was a very confusing situation for the mare. She had no idea where she was, what had happened, or even who she was.

As she wondered about her predicament, a hissing noise was heard and a light flooded the room. Now she saw the various machines around her, their intricate designs losing meaning in her addled brain. Then there was the figure in the doorway. It was just a silhouette, but she recognized the shape, even if she couldn't tell what it was. It filled her with fear as she looked upon the dark form growing ever larger. There was nothing she could do as it moved towards her locked in place body.

As the dark form was within inches from her, it lifted an arm and pushed a glowing button on it. As the button was pressed down, the lights suddenly flashed on with a blinding glare. The mare couldn't stand the initial shock after being in darkness for so long. She quickly closed her eyes and reared her head back as much as she could with the machines hooked up to her. When she finally opened them again, she was met with a terrifying sight.

Before her stood a creature with long lanky arms, wearing a suit of shining grey armor. It had a black robe of some sort hanging from its back as it stared at her with black, soulless eyes. Its face was riddled with scars and it had a wide fanged smile that made its light green skin even more terrifying. Then it spoke in a language the mare knew from the deep reaches of her locked away mind.

"Tu ergo qui cessit consiliis, so you are the one who foiled our plans. Magna virtus tua, tamen non justo libros indicia. You possess great power, yet it does not hold signs of the godly books. Num invenisti viam circum. I wonder if you found a way around them."

"What are you? Where am I? Who am I?"

"Stultus minorem genus, vos debeat honorari esse in praesentia Sideran navis magistro. Foolish lesser race, you should be honored to be in the presence of the Sideran ship master. Tibi soli reginae petis indicio non egeant. You, sun queen, have no need for the information you ask for."

"Answer my questions! I demand that you tell me what is going on and why you call me the sun queen!"

"Very well then, you want answers, you shall receive them. Fear us, sun queen, for you are about to witness the truth behind lies. You shall witness for yourself the rise and fall of an empire. You wanted knowledge, well now you will know the horrors that plagued our people. When all else failed, we succeeded. Now prepare for your judgment."

With that, the machine began to hum and the mare began to feel a sense of drowsiness overcome her. Her vision faded before her eyes and her mind began to fall out of her body as she was pulled into a deep slumber.

She awoke to find herself in a large room of some sort. There were a great many soldiers dressed as the ship master had been; only having no medals or other status symbols. They carried strange objects and were all lined up facing commander of some sort. As far as she knew, they couldn't see her watching them. She was inspecting the banners along the walls when the commander at the front of the room began to speak.

"Alright troops, listen up. We have been given a mission to invade the enemy territory and hopefully capture their leader. This will be dangerous, and many of you will likely be killed, but if we want to finally bring peace to this galaxy we have to defeat these humans. We will participate in the assault on their orbital defenses. The objective is to find their control room and take over their station. With that, we can finally destroy their forces and end this war. Are you ready?!"

"YES SIR!"

"Good, then let's go burn some humans to ash."

The vision then changed and the mare found herself in another metal hallway while explosions could be heard from around the corner. She moved in to see what was there and was shocked at what laid before her. There were innumerable bodies of both Sideran soldiers and another group that stood between her and an advancing wall of flames. She only guessed that these were the humans the commander had spoken of in the last vision.

She looked on as the approaching wave of flame let out shots of green plasma. These shots usually hit a wall or the floor, but occasionally they struck down a human soldier who screamed in agony as his armor was melted by the heat. Every few seconds a Sideran soldier would jump out of the fire only to be mercilessly fired upon by every human in the area.

The mare watched in horror as soldier after soldier fell in this assault. She quickly turned and ran down the hallway she had come from. She ran past human soldiers gunning down Sideran forces as well as more walls of fire traveling slowly towards a group of humans who fired everything they had at the blazing inferno. Soon she reached a large room where she found a group of humans sitting around a table and watching as a screen before them showed footage from across the station.

One human pressed a button on the table in front of him which caused a great hum to fill the air. Seconds later the screens flashed and a bright light shone from many of the screens before they suddenly went dark. At this time, a powerful tremor shook the entire room. The humans looked on with expressionless faces as the doors began to glow red from the heat on the other side.

Seconds later, one door fell inward with a hiss and a shower of sparks as it hit the ground. On the other side were many sideran soldiers who slowly progressed into the room as the humans watched with eyes devoid of any emotion. One human pressed a button on the table before a blinding light engulfed the entire area.

The mare was then transported once more. She found herself floating in space watching a large station before her. Then, the station lit up in a flash of light and exploded in a ball of fire. The shock at this event had just begun to recede when the voice of the sideran ship master appeared from nowhere.

"We fought the humans so that we may be free of their tyrant of a leader. The chaos emperor, as they called him, had ruled the Empire of Rome for hundreds of years. He was an undying monster, who only cared for the power of his empire. He was a merciless tyrant who would stop at nothing to have us destroyed. They say he made a deal with the devil, unlimited power and everlasting life in exchange for his very soul. He was a mad lord who had enough power to decimate entire armies with a snap of his fingers.

"It was the duty of my ancestors to stop him. We were the only ones with the power to do so. We obtained a powerful book from the gods, and with it, we were capable of sealing the chaos emperor within the book and splitting it into six pieces so that he could never escape. With their leader gone, the humans fought back and fought bravely to get him back. In the end they failed, but instead of come quietly, they used their dying breath to destroy our armies.

"In the end, we took the remaining humans under our wing and saved them from their own idiocy. We ruled for a long time after that, and we made sure to keep things fair and equal for all races. It was a few thousand years later that the humans decided to rebel once more."

The scene changed once more, and now the mare stood within a ship, looking out of a large window at a battlefield in space. A planet could be seen below and a large multitude of ships sat there in space, explosions lighting up on their sides as beams of light and fire stretch between two groups of the massive machines.

The mare watched as ships on both sides were exploding in blasts of energy. Most of the ships opposite her were surrounded in a dark aura that would protect them from harm, but the occasional ship would lose its dark surrounding before the firepower overwhelmed it and it burst into millions of pieces. Most casualties, however, were on the side of the two fleets. The sideran ships were not surrounded in the dark aura that covered the Human fleet and were falling much quicker than Human ships.

Soon, the humans had taken out nearly every sideran ship with very few casualties on their part. The sideran fleet was in a retreat as human ships fired a constant flow of plasma at the escaping siderans. Very few ships managed to escape through the blue portals allowing escape. The ship the mare watched from was almost through when a blast of plasma suddenly hit the window, vaporizing everyone inside as the vision suddenly went white.

The mare now found herself in a large city. The buildings rose high above the streets and had obviously seen better days. Many of the grand towers were damaged and quite a few had been turned to rubble as their bodies exploded from massive slugs of metal blasting through their magnificent structures.

A loud electrical whine filled the air as one of the dark human ships moved over one of the larger buildings. A bright lite shone from below the war machine before a beam of pure energy shot out and destroyed the tall building with an explosion of heat and power.

On the ground were waves of human soldiers, only they were much larger and each soldier was surrounded in the same dark aura the ships were. The soldiers were swarming through and decimating as many siderans as they could, be it soldier or citizen. To top everything off, a group of armored tanks were destroying any building that survived the orbital bombardment of the large spacecraft.

The mare could only stare at the destruction being caused by the human forces tearing apart the city in their quest to destroy all of the siderans. As her sanity was at its breaking point, the vision faded once more and changed to a destroyed version of the city with only a handful of buildings remaining and no signs of life among the rubble. Then the voice of the shipmaster returned.

"We spent thousands of years with a glorious empire. We were the crown of the universe as well as the sword and shield. We protected the many that lived beneath us, and we repelled the threats that entered our territory. It was a legendary time of peace and prosperity that came to a screeching halt when the books of the gods, used to seal their old leader, were stolen from us by the human armies. They used our power to launch their attack.

"First they destroyed our fleets, and then they lay waste to our cities. After the war was over, and our army destroyed, we were hunted down like the pests we were to the human scourge. By the time it all ended, our race was at the verge of extinction. The last of our once proud civilization was in hiding across the galaxy.

"For thousands of years we hid, while the human empire of New Rome rose from our ashes and those of their next victims. The many small pockets of siderans soon grew, all but forgotten by their destroyers. Eventually, we managed to rebuild our civilization, without the knowledge of the Human armies. Even together once more, it wasn't until a thousand years ago when we felt the books power being used once more that we set our plan in motion. For the last thousand years, we have been building our armies and now we have begun to take back our empire. The first step is retrieving the books."

At this, the mare blacked out and awoke in the room she had begun in. She could see the sideran shipmaster standing over her as she took in the information she had just been given. He walked over to her and pressed a button next to her. The throbbing in her head then began to recede until it was nothing more than a simple headache. Then the shipmaster began to talk once more.

"You have seen what the empire of New Rome did to us long ago. You now know why we have waged war on them and must acquire the books in order to be successful in our endeavors. We know where most of the books are hidden, but we must have the support of these lands natives before we can retrieve them all. You are the leader of this planet, the one to whom all will look in times of need. You can help us, and with your help there will be much less destruction and mayhem than otherwise. You are the solar queen, Solar Radiance."

The hallways were quiet as the lunar princess and her five mare escort walked down towards Celestia's bed chambers. They reached the doorway and proceeded to open it so that the group could access a secret known only to the celestial sisters. Within the bed chambers was a secret doorway to a wing of the castle that didn't exist. Through this door and up a flight of stairs was a room filled with secrets. The most important of these was the grey book sitting in the middle of the room.

Luna picked up this book and left with it. Through this entire trip, all was silent. The six mares walked out of the chambers and back into the throne room. In the throne room was a large number of guards trained for fighting monsters. They were an elite division of the guard dedicated to protecting the civilians from monsters like those within the Everfree forest. They were the best suited for defending Canterlot from this new sideran threat, but even they were hopelessly outmatched. Luna sat on the throne before addressing the gathered ponies.

"Gathered members of the guard, we have brought thee together for the sake of defending this city from the dangerous new threat of these siderans. We shall be honest; most of you shall die in the fighting to come. The royal guard has severely lost its touch in the thousand years since my days as Nightmare Moon, but we still have honor and ability. Our formal guard may lack the training and experience of old, but we can still fight, and fight we shall. Our sister was likely killed by these invaders, and as such, I will do everything in my power to defeat them and return this land to the harmony and peace Celestia always wanted. The elements of harmony are useless with one of their bearers gone, and as such we must rely on the strength of our steel and the determination of our finest. We will stop this threat, and we will make sure they are too afraid of our power to ever return. Now who's with me?"

A chorus of "we are" and "I am" was met with an uproar of cheers as every member of the guard raised their sword or spear into the air. The cheers lasted for a few seconds before Luna raised her hoof for silence. She then began to speak once more.

"We thank Thee for thine determination to protect those who truly need it. Now we must fight to defend our homes and our lives from the enemy. We shall be providing additional training to any who wish to join. The tactics and strategies of old shall be taught as quickly as possible to all who want it. These training sessions will be the hardest any member of the guard has faced in a long time. It is not for the weak; rather it is where those with true willpower shall rise to the top. We have little time, tonight we start counting the days until the beast before us finally hits our walls, and we make our last stand. When they arrive, we shall either defeat them and achieve victory, or die trying. We applaud thine courage, and we wish you the best of luck. May the stars guide us to victory."

With this said, Luna bowed to her guard, and left the room. She was followed by the five elements into the private back rooms. Once there, Twilight was the first to speak.

"Princess, do you really believe that we can win against these monsters?"

"No, Twilight, we're afraid we are out matched in every way. If these creatures attack now, we will all die. Only a miracle could save us now. Our only chance is collecting those books like our sister said. May the gods have mercy on our souls."

A/N: Here goes chapter two of this story, like last time, I am extremely sorry for my much too long absence. I have no excuses, so have fun with this. ~Dragonrider Goku~


	3. Introductions

"Welcome back Miss Pie, I'm sorry you had to experience a sideran flamethrower up close, but luckily we got you out of there just in time. Any longer and you would have been nothing but an ash pile atop the rest of the burned forest."

Pinkie Pie woke up on what appeared to be a simple cot. She had no idea how she got there or even where she was. The last thing she remembered was a bright light before she blacked out. As she examined her surroundings, she noticed two important things. One, she was in a metallic room with bright floodlights overhead and the smell of medicine and sterilized air all around her. The second thing was the creature standing at the foot of her cot, watching her as she woke up. The creature stood on two legs and wore what appeared to be a doctor's coat. A red cross was located on the sleeves of the coat while a gray vest covered the front of the white coat. The creature had short brown hair covering the top of its head while its skin was a light tan color. It appeared to be studying her and constantly writing down notes on a clipboard.

That was when she noticed the pain. Her entre body suddenly felt like it was on fire. She started screaming and barely noticed the creature before her jumping up and talking to her. Her pain induced haze prevented her from understanding its words, but she could tell it was trying to calm her down. After a few minutes, the pain began to recede and Pinkie Pie finally stopped her screaming. Now she could make out the words of the creature trying to help her.

"Calm down Miss Pie, you're going to be fine. Please be calm and listen to me Miss Pie. You need to be calm if you wish to recover quickly. Oh good, you've stopped screaming; now maybe we can make some progress. I'm a doctor Miss Pie; I'm trying to help you. You were burned badly by a sideran soldier. We managed to rescue you just before the flames hit, but you still received major burns to most of your body. I am doctor red hand, and I am in charge of your well-being until you are deemed healthy enough to be released from my care."

"Where am I? How did you save me? How do you know my name? What are you?"

"All good questions Miss Pie, You are currently in the medical wing of the United Empire of New Rome's flagship, the Shadow's Descent. I belong to a race known as Humans who make up the majority of the New Roman Empire. We saved you from a sideran soldier who tried to kill you. You were teleported into the bridge of this ship through our teleportation devices. We know who you are due to your famous status as an element of harmony. We may never come in contact with your race, but we still know of the important events in your history, one of which being the return of the elements in you and your five friends."

"So, you saved my life, and brought me here? What is the United Empire of New Rome?"

"Yes, we needed to treat your injuries, and the medical wing was the best place for that. The flagship has the largest medical wing in the fleet. New Rome is the name of our empire. We span the entire galaxy and are in charge of defending all of our subjects from dangers they cannot deal with on their own. Typically, we do not have contact with less advanced races like yours, but when they need us we will defend them. Now your planet is being targeted by the sideran army, and we have come to stop them."

"So you want to help us? Who are these sideran guys?"

"The siderans are a race of creatures similar to humans, but not quite the same. They are known for their worship of fire and their ideals of victory or death. They used to rule this galaxy long ago, and they ruled it with an iron fist. Humans and siderans have never gotten along. We used to be two empires that both ruled over this galaxy, until they went to war with us and took over. After thousands of years, we came back and managed to defeat the sideran army. We have ruled ever since, and now they have returned. We are trying to defeat them once more, but their numbers are far greater than ours. If you want more information about them, you're going to have to ask the emperor or one of his generals. That's about all I know about them."

"Thanks, thank you for saving my life. Do you know if my friends are safe?"

"I'm afraid I do not know, now I need you to go back to sleep, you're still recovering from your injuries."

With that, doctor Red Hand left the room and Pinkie Pie lied back down on her cot and fell asleep. Doctor Red Hand let the door close behind him as he went to the bridge to tell the emperor about Miss Pie's wake from her unconsciousness. While he walked down the hallway, he passed all of the soldiers heading out to their usual activities in training rooms or battle stations. About halfway down the hallway, the doctor turned a black ring on his finger and his body was suddenly covered in a dark aura as it slowly changed.

Red Hand slowly grew almost an entire foot until he stood at a good seven feet tall. That wasn't the only thing that changed, His hair turned black and his uniform changed as well. Instead of a red cross on his coat, it became a trio of golden stars and his grey vest became a dark red color. His blue eyes watched as the soldiers around him suddenly saluted him once the transformation ended. He waited a second before dismissing the salutes aimed at him. He soon reached a door at the end of the hallway and entered a large room with a view outside of the planet below them.

Red Hand walked up to the man standing in the center of the room and stood next to him before speaking.

"Sir, the element of laughter has woken from her sleep. She wasted no time to ask questions about us. I answered her for now, but she still wants better answers. I wouldn't be surprised if she wished to see you for her answers."

"Very well, it can't be helped and her curiosity is justified. I assume you kept your true identity a secret, right Rhede?"

"Of course, she only knew me as her doctor, not as general of an army. Are we prepared to reveal ourselves to the sideran fleet and the ponies of Equestria?"

"Almost, Starfall has the fleet in place, and Jer'rahd has most of his troops ready for orbital drop. We just have to wait for Miss Pie's recovery so she can be sent down with the army."

"I see. I await your orders sir."

"And when the time comes, you know what they'll be."

With this said, the man known as Rhede turned and walked out of the room and down the hallway to the training area. When he arrived, he was shown a scene of utter mayhem and chaos. In the middle of the room, there was a large muscled man with dark grey hair, being assaulted on all sides by unarmed younger soldiers. As Rhede watched, one soldier after another were thrown clear across the room before they could so much as lay a finger on the older man's hat.

"You runts call that an attack, don't make me laugh. I thought you all were soldiers, not wimps. You lot should be back in boot camp, not out on the battlefield."

A young man was then thrown straight through the doorway as Rhede ducked to avoid a recruit to the face. When he stood back up, the muscled man was walking straight towards him as the trainees either stood at attention or lay beaten on the ground.

"Is there a reason you interrupted my training session Rhede? I was just starting to get to know these miserable new troops here."

"As much as you love knocking out the new recruits Jer'rahd, I need to speak with you and the others before we start fighting the sideran army. If you could please get Bleu when you're finished here, that would be great."

"Fine, we meet in the war room in two hours. That should give these whelps some time to recover from my training session before we go to war."

"Good, now I just need to get Starfall and Velkorn to come to our little get together and then we can get started."

Rhede then walked out the door and past a still moaning recruit before entering the room that housed the sleeping form of Pinkie Pie. Once inside, he walked up to a dark skinned woman wearing a white coat with a pair of stars on each sleeve. The woman was busy mixing some herbs and other ingredients together into a paste. This paste was wiped across the forehead of the sleeping pink mare before the woman turned towards Rhede.

"Have you come to check on the mare, or do I need a new reason to despair?"

"It's good to see she's recovering, but I'm afraid we need the group gathered in the war room. I've already spoken with Jer'rahd and he's getting Bleu. You wouldn't happen to know where Starfall went, would you?"

"I have not seen Starfall, but I see you need us all. Then to the war room I shall go, when battle starts we must know."

"Thank you Velkorn, be there in two hours, then we can discuss a plan of action."

Once this was said, Rhede left once more to retrieve Starfall. He walked over to a door marked elevator and pressed a code into the holographic keypad next to it. Within seconds, the doors slid open to reveal a small room. Rhede went in and the doors closed before the elevator shuddered and rapidly moved through the large ship. Ten seconds later, the doors opened to reveal a hanger filled with small, one person fighters. At one end of the hanger stood a group of younger pilots standing around, telling tales of their impressive feats while the older pilots chuckled from the sidelines with grins upon their faces.

Many pilots were busy polishing their ships and making sure everything was in fighting order for when the battle with the Sideran fleet took place. One such pilot stood by an impressive ship painted a midnight blue with golden lightning bolts running down the sides. The back end of the ship carried twin thrusters covered in a dark silver paint while a pair of thin wings stuck out from either side, both painted the same midnight blue color as the main body. In the front of the ship was a window of reinforced glass, tinted so as to hide the pilot's seat from any prying eyes.

The pilot herself was a short woman. She had short, bright gray hair with streaks of purple in it. She wore what, at first glance, appeared to be standard pilot's attire. If you looked closer, however, you could see a group of four stars patched onto each shoulder. Her flight suit was also equipped with a pair of large, sapphire blades that were strapped to her back. The swords looked as if they were made for decoration, but the edge was sharper than any normal blade, and was devoid of even a single scratch despite the dark red coating on the edges.

Rhede walked up to this pilot as she wiped down a patch of her ship that was charred from fire. When he arrived, the pilot looked up and began to speak.

"Well, I didn't expect to see you down here, something important going on?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I need you in the war room in two hours. The element of laughter woke up, we are almost ready to send the troops down and reveal our presence to the siderans as well as the ponies that call this planet home."

"Sounds good, it'd be nice to finally get some flying time instead of being cooped up in this ship for so long. I suppose I'll be there. Are the others coming?"

"Yes, I've already met with everyone besides Bleu, but Jer's getting her for me."

"Great, just let me finish up here and I'll be on my way."

"See you then Starfall."

With that, Starfall turned back to her ship and Rhede returned to the elevator to see what he could do before the meeting was to begin. Two hours later, everyone was gathered in the war room besides one. The doors flew open and in ran a woman unlike any other.

Her skin was covered in a pale blue set of scales. A pair of bat-like wings were folded up on her back, and she wore a thin metal plated suit of armor that covered all but her head and pale blue wings. On her head was a purple beret that covered a rat's nest of sky blue hair. The beret had a single star on the front while the armor sported a bright purple star painted onto each shoulder. The armor itself was dark blue besides a series of black scorch marks covering a majority of its front and back. The woman's eyes were blue with a black reptilian slit running down the center.

"Sorry I'm late, I sort of forgot about the meeting until just a few minutes ago. I was busy down in the kitchens and lost track of time."

"Its fine Bleu, we haven't done anything yet. Most of us just got here as well." Jer'rahd said to the half-dragon who hastily took a seat next to him.

"Well now that we're all here," Rhede started, "I believe it's time we began thinking of our plan of action against the sideran army. As I informed most of you, the element of laughter has recently awoken from her unconsciousness. Once she's ready, we will send her down to the planet along with the first strike team. Hopefully, she can inform the ponies they encounter that we mean them no harm and wish to help them defend against the sideran invasion."

"That part of the plan sounds good with me," Starfall began, "I recommend sending her down in a ship instead of firing her in a drop pod like we would our own troops. Even after we saved her life, that pink pony may not like being sent on a collision course with the ground. My squad can keep her transport safe while we send it down. It would help if we didn't reveal ourselves to the siderans until after we've delivered their element of harmony safely to the planet's surface."

"I agree with dear Starfall, we don't need them to fear us all. Even if she is perfectly fine, the ponies may not agree at the time." Velkorn stated, agreeing with Starfall's plan.

"I suppose that's a good idea, but I'm going with that transport. I recommend we all go down with the first team so we can set up a strong first contact group. If that doesn't work, we'll also need someone who can fight well and get us out of there. Send in a squad from the 42nd with us." Jer'rahd stated.

"Well, this seems settled, once that pony wakes up, we all go down in the transport, with Starfall providing cover for us. Now we just need to prepare the transport and wait." Bleu concluded.

"Well then we can skip the waiting and just leave once the shuttle's ready, I can't wait to throw you guys a party for saving me once we get back." Pinkie Pie said after suddenly appearing in an empty chair.

"Oh good, I never was one for waiti- PINKIE PIE! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!" Rhede yelled, noticing the pink pony that had just appeared.

"I had an itchy belly and a twitchy nose, which means somebody I don't really know is talking about me. So I came over here and found you guys mentioning me and a transport and going down to Equestria in said transport."

"Well please don't appear like that again, you're lucky nobody attacked you."

"Okie dokie loki"

"Yea, anyway, I'd like to be down there as soon as possible, so let's get started." Jer'rahd finished as they all got up to gather the troops and prepare for departure.

Princess Luna was currently looking from her balcony out at the smoking forest of burned trees and ash laden ground. After she had returned from the castle ruins with the element bearers and the book, the monsters that had lay waste to the forest were picked up in some sort of large metal carriage and returned to the massive shape up in the sky. This shape was now joined by many more objects, some nearly twice as big as the original was. The pegasus teams had managed to put out the fires with their storm fronts gathered from various weather factories across Equestria.

The creatures known as the siderans had yet to reveal themselves on land, but had quite clearly shown that they dominate the skies. Their ships had proven to be far beyond the height in the sky they were originally thought to be in and were likely at the edges of the atmosphere, or even further. Their massive size, combined with the amount of ships had squashed nearly all hope Luna had of winning against these enemies in a fight. The only chance they had was if they could somehow gather all the books as well as use the elements of harmony combined with the books power. Even then, the chances of success were slim at best and without Pinkie Pie or any viable replacements for laughter, they couldn't even use that plan.

Luna spread her wings and exited her observatory into the crimson sky of the setting sun. Without her sister to move the sun, she had been tasked with both her own celestial body and the large fireball that marked day. The strain on her magic was nearly enough to make her simply leave the bodies where they were. Nearly. Luna flew down her tower towards the main gate, where a large group of royal guards in armor from all corners of Equestria's military stood, waiting for her orders.

When Luna landed, she began addressing the combined guard forces on their current situation.

"We thank thee for coming and risking your lives for our effort to protect Canterlot from an invasion the likes of which we have never seen. Thine efforts shall be remembered for thy courage and bravery in the coming days of battle. We wish there were a better chance of victory, but we are afraid there is little hope for our survival in this war. We shall stand with our armies, and we shall provide any support we can to defeat the invading powers that seek our destruction. Most of you will die, but your sacrifice will allow our families and friends to escape the fury of the ones we fight. We are the only things standing between the pony race, as well as those of the griffon, draconic, and zebra races and extinction. The armies of every race in Equestria and the surrounding lands are joined in this moment of unity the likes of which have never been seen since the dawn of time. We may not win this war, but we shall die making sure those who cannot protect themselves are able to live another day. We will protect our homes and families until our dying breath is used to inflict more pain upon those who wish to harm us. We will fight, until there is nothing left of us to fight with. Who will join us in our day of reckoning? WHO WILL FIGHT FOR EQUESTRIA!"

With that, a chorus of cheers rang out as every member of the crowd raised their weapons into the air and shouted their agreement to everyone listening. When the crowd had quieted down, Luna spoke once more.

"Thank you, we await the honor of joining in thy glory on the battlefield. The griffon armies arrive later tonight, and the dragons shall wait in the surrounding mountains. Our end is near, but we will assure that our families survive and remember the glory of our courage long into the future. Leave now, be with your families for one last night before the tides of war sweep us away from everything we hold dear."

That said, the crowd began to disperse in silence, until a loud boom sounded from above and a fiery shape was seen falling towards the city. Every guard pulled out their weapons and prepared for impact, when the fire dispelled and a ship could be seen emerging from its fiery descent. A group of smaller, faster ships were seen coming up behind the first until they created a V formation with the larger ship behind the center ship. They slowed their descent and evened out as they turned towards the city of Canterlot.

As the ships grew closer, the smaller ones flew ahead and slowed when they reached the castle. On the second pass, they stopped completely over the courtyard and hovered in place as the larger ship entered their rough circle. The large ship slowly descended and a hatch on the back opened slowly. By the time it neared ground level, the doors had opened enough to see a large, bipedal creature standing within. It was wearing a suit of some type of armor that covered everything but its head. The armor was a dark blue-purple color and it glowed softly with a dark radiance. Strapped to the creature's back was a large, midnight blue, double sided sword with a dark leather wrapped handle in the center.

When the ship reached the ground, the creature stepped out and approached Princess Luna. Luna stared directly at the creature, who merely smiled before speaking.

"I assume you are the leader of these ponies. I am general Jer'rahd Kaisur of the United Empire of New Rome. I believe our interests are aligned and I come to offer help in your fight."

"Why should we accept thine offer? As far as we know, you are allied with those siderans who wish to destroy us. What would you gain from helping us?"

"It is our duty to help those who cannot defend against the threats of this universe. We usually work from the shadows, helping when we are absolutely needed, and then leaving. Often without those we helped ever even knowing we were there. We saved this planet from destruction once before, and we are here to do so again. If you choose not to accept that answer, then how about this one? We want to keep the books away from the siderans just as much as you do. It was the reason we sent them here in the first place."

"You are the ones that sent the books here? You stopped that monster's destructive rampage all those thousands of years ago? Who are you, really?"

"I told you, we are the United Empire of New Rome, the silent guardians who protect those who cannot protect themselves. We will come when we are needed, then leave once we are done. Do not try to find us, just know that we are watching from the shadows. I also have a little surprise for you Princess." Jer'rahd then turned towards the large ship and called out, "Let her out."

At that moment, a commotion was heard from within the ship and a pink blur shot out and started bouncing up and down before the princess as a very hyperactive pink pony with a fluffy pink mane. Following her came three more creatures similar to Jer'rahd who merely stood back and watched as Pinkie Pie began speaking at a million miles a second.

"Princess Luna I'm so glad to see you do you know where Twilight and the others are? They're probably super-duper worried about me, but luckily these guys pulled me out just in time or I would be just a pile of black ash and that's no fun, but no, they pulled me out just in time and I came back here with them after resting up in their super-cool big ship thing where I-" Pinkie was then stopped as a silver clad hoof entered her mouth.

"Pinkie Pie, you are alive. This is much better than we had hoped. We may now have a chance once the elements and the books are brought together." Luna said with wide eyes as she stared at the pink pony before her.

"About that princess, I'm afraid we can't let you use the books. I'm sure you remember what happened last time you messed with them." Jer'rahd told Luna.

"But we will have the elements with us this time, they will surely negate the negative side effects."

"No princess, trust someone afflicted with the power of them both combined, the elements will not protect you. They will only make it worse."


End file.
